The Creed
by Strader
Summary: A brief drabble containing Met'amoq's reflections on the life of a Corwid, as dictated to a certain character from Zeno Clash 2.


_(Author's Note: I originally posted this on the Zeno Clash forums at - I thought I might as well upload a copy here as well. Writing Met'amoq was tricky; the way he speaks requires me to write using a stilted, awkward language without my writing itself becoming cramped and awkward - a unique challenge. Hopefully, I pulled it off._

_As for Animasta's obsession - it wasn't specified in the game, so I put my own take on it here. It makes sense, I think, in a creepy, Corwid way. And it certainly lends a disturbing undercurrent to the times she attacks you in the game.)_

The Creed

The first and only step to become a Corwid of the Free is deciding what you feel you must do.

This is not usually an easy task. Most people cannot become Corwids, because they believe that there is nothing you _must_ do: that you are free to do as you desire. This is not true. Whether they recognize it or not, everyone is a Corwid, because everyone wants something. But others are imperfect because they do not put what they must do first, but rather allow it to become lost in other concerns.

Corwids recognize that what we must do is not an option, but an obligation. For Oxameter not to walk onward without letting anything stop him is, for him, impossible. For Chneero not to make music is insane. Because we do not deny what we must do, we are happier. And we are more perfect.

Another common belief is that there are multiple things we must do. This is also false, or at least a distortion. People may believe they want many things, but in the end, all things they do are means to one end. Corwids recognize the one-ness of this end, what we feel we must do, and do it. It is true that what we must do is rarely a single act, but many acts that comprise a single end. But the thing we are trying to do is one thing, and whatever else we do is a tool to accomplishing that thing.

Thus, for Ghat to do what he says he must do, he must win a fight, and that involves many things. For Animasta to do what she must do, she must lose a fight she is trying her hardest to win. This is very complicated, because wanting to lose while trying your hardest not to is much more difficult to fully and honestly do than wanting to win and making it happen.

But we have digressed. To return: deciding what it is you must do is an intensely personal decision, because knowing what you must do depends largely on knowing who you are, and each of us is too different for what we must do to often be the same.

What I must do is teach someone to fight, until they are as strong as me, strong enough to defeat me. And then, when I have given all that I am, I will destroy myself so that I live only in them. I cannot teach you, however, because you are already stronger than me, and so you would not benefit from my teachings.

To teach someone is a hard thing to do, because to do it, I must find someone who must learn. And many of the others do not need to learn, so they were unsuitable students. Talonco must headbutt things, and I want to teach more than attacks with the head. Hekim must be invisible, and I cannot teach without my eyes. Chneero must make music, and I am not a musician. Erminia peed on herself and went into the woods to die alone, and these are not skills I can teach. Gabel must eat people, and I cannot teach if I am in someone's belly – besides which, he is too big to learn anything useful from me. Oxameter must walk in one direction, and cannot stop long enough to listen to me. And so it went.

In the end, there were only two in the woods who might learn from me. The first was Ghat. Ghat is a newer Corwid, who came here from the city of Halstedom to the south some moons ago. What Ghat says he must do is defeat others in fights, and take pieces of their armour as trophies. Though he has fought many battles, I am not convinced that this really is what Ghat must do. I believe Ghat is still trying to find what he must do. Perhaps I can help him find this as well. But even if I cannot, he can profit from my teaching, and this is what I need.

The second was Animasta. What she must do, like Ghat, is fight others and try to defeat them. But unlike Ghat, what she is really wants is to lose. When she loses, she knows she has found one stronger than her. One who is worthy of giving her a child. So when she loses, she will – if she is conscious – try to make them give her one. Some of the others have been willing to try and help her, but so far she has not been able to conceive. Perhaps one day she will. But I fear she is merely barren, and will go on trying forever.

But do not be sad for her. She does what she feels she must. And therefore, she has reached perfection. If you were to meet her, she would like you. You are strong, and she must have strength. Perhaps, if you are kind, you find her on your way back and try to help her.

The point of the matter is, Animasta is trying to lose. So she was unwilling to learn from me, because if she became stronger than she is, she would be able to defeat all the others. And that, in its way, would defeat the purpose, because then there would be no one to give her a child.

But to return to my point. This left Ghat. I found him, fought him and defeated him. When he returned to consciousness, I told him I could teach him, and he agreed. So I will teach Ghat. He has already agreed to come to me at the sun rise. After we are finished speaking, I will sleep. I will meet him tomorrow to begin, and to do what I must do.

When you met me, Word, you told me you must hear stories, to make them in stone. I do not know how it is you can make words into stone, but I think that in your heart, you are a Corwid too. So remember this: if you do what you feel you must do, no matter what that is, then you have reached perfection. If you will not stay here with us, then remember this when you return to your home. Perhaps this story of yours in stone will teach others, and then they may become perfect too.

_The preceding passage was originally dictated to me, Word, by the Corwid calling himself Met'amoq when I visited the Corwid woods three full moons ago. Let this recording of truth serve in some small regard as recompense for the sins against my clan, who claimed that I profaned of the art of the word by setting my own stories into stone. But I will continue to make stories of my own, though I be damned in doing so. Because it is what I must do. And I will reach perfection._


End file.
